His firft-begot we know, and fore have felt,
When his fierce thunder drove us to the deep;
Who this is we must learn, for man he seems
In all his lineaments, though in his face
The glimpses of his Father's glory fhine.
Ye fee our danger on the utmost edge

Of hazard, which admits no long debate,
But must with something fudden be oppos'd,

90

95

Not force, but well couch'd fraud, well woven fnares, Ere in the head of nations he appear

Their king, their leader, and supreme on earth.

I, when no other durft, fole undertook
The difmal expedition to find out
And ruin Adam, and th' exploit perform'd
Successfully; a calmer voyage now

100

Will

Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer
view,

And narrower fcrutiny, that I might learn
In what degree or meaning thou art call'd
The Son of God, which bears no fingle fenfe; &c.

94. Ye fee our danger on the utmost edge
Of bazard,] An expreffion borrowed from
Shakespear. All's well, that ends well. A&t III.
Sc. 5.
Sir, it is

A charge too heavy for my strength; but yet
C 2
We'll

Will waft me; and the way found prosp❜rous once
Induces best to hope of like fuccess.

He ended, and his words impression left
Of much amazement to th' infernal crew,
Distracted and furpris'd with deep dismay
At these sad tidings; but no time was then
For long indulgence to their fears or grief:
Unanimous they all commit the care
And management of this main enterprize
To him their great dictator, whofe attempt
At first against mankind fo well had thriv'd
In Adam's overthrow, and led their march
From Hell's deep-vaulted den to dwell in light,

We'll strive to bear it for your worthy fake,
To th' extreme edge of hazard.

113.
To him their great dictator,] Milton ap-
plies this title very properly to Satan in his pre-
fent fituation, as the authority he is now vested
with is quite dictatorial, and the expedition on
which he is going of the utmoft confequence
to the fall'n Angels. Thyer.

119. So to the coaft of Jordan he directs His eafy steps, girded with fnaky wiles, ] For as Lightfoot obferves Vol. II. p. 299. the wildernefs, where our Saviour underwent his forty days temptation, was on the fame bank of Jordan where the baptifm of John was, St. Luke witneffing it, that Jefus being now

Regents

baptized Tespeev ATо T8 Iopfavs, returned
ὑπεςρεψεν από το Ιορδανος,
from Jordan, namely from the fame tract,
whereby he came thither. His eafy steps, for
here was not that danger and difficulty as in
his first expedition to ruin mankind. It is faid
in reference to what he had spoken before,
I, when no other durft, fole undertook
The difmal expedition to find out
And ruin Adam

a calmer voyage now

Will waft me &c. Girded with fnaky wiles, alluding to the habit. of forcerers and necromancers, who are reprefented in fome prints as girded about the

Regents and potentates, and kings, yea Gods
Of many a pleasant realm and province wide.
So to the coast of Jordan he directs

His easy steps, girded with fnaky wiles,
Where he might likelieft find this new-declar'd,
This man of men, attested Son of God,
Temptation and all guile on him to try ;
So to fubvert whom he suspected rais'd
To end his reign on earth so long enjoy'd:
But contrary unweeting he fulfill'd

The purpos'd counsel pre-ordain'd and fix'd
Of the most High, who in full frequence bright
Of Angels, thus to Gabriel smiling fpake.

120

125

Gabriel, this day by proof thou fhalt behold, 130 Thou and all Angels converfant on earth

With man or mens affairs, how I begin
To verify that folemn message late,
On which I fent thee to the Virgin pure
In Galilee, that she should bear a fon

Great in renown, and call'd the Son of God;

135

Then toldst her doubting how these things could be To her a virgin, that on her should come

141

The Holy Ghost, and the pow'r of the Highest
O'er-shadow her: this man born and now up-grown,
To show him worthy of his birth divine
And high prediction, henceforth I expose
To Satan; let him tempt and now affay

His utmost subtlety, because he boafts
And vaunts of his great cunning to the throng
Of his apostasy; he might have learnt

Gabriel was fent to inform Daniel of the
famous prophecy of the feventy weeks; Ga-
briel notified the conception of John the Bap-
tist to his father Zacharias, and of our bleffed
Saviour to his virgin mother. And the Jewish
Rabbi's fay, that Michael was the minifter of
feverity, but Gabriel of mercy: and accord-
ingly our poet makes Gabriel the guardian.

145

Lefs

Angel of Paradife, and employs Michael to expel our firft parents out of Paradife: and for the fame reason this fpeech is directed to Gabriel in particular. And God's being reprefented as fmiling may be juftified not only by the Heathen poets, as Virg. Æn. I. 254.

Olli fubridens hominum fator atque deorum:

but

Lefs overweening, fince he fail'd in Job,
Whose constant perfeverance overcame
Whate'er his cruel malice could invent.

All his folicitations, and at length

All his vast force, and drive him back to Hell,
Winning by conquest what the first man lost
By fallacy furpris'd. But first I mean
To exercise him in the wilderness,
There he shall first lay down the rudiments
Of his great warfare, ere I fend him forth
To conquer Sin and Death, the two grand foes,
By humiliation and strong fufferance:

His weaknefs fhall o'ercome Satanic strength,
And all the world, and mafs of finful flesh;
That all the Angels and ethereal Powers,

but by the authority of Scripture itself. See
Paradife Loft. V. 718.

131. Thou and all Angels converfant on earth With man or mens affairs,] This feems to be taken from the verfes attributed to Orpheus. Αγγελοι, όισι μεμηλε βροτοῖς ὡς πανία τε

λειται..

144.

155

160

They

because be boafts

And vaunts &c] This alludes to what Sa-tan had just before faid to his companions,,

ver. 100..

I,, when no other durft,. fole undertook &c..
Thyer.

163. That all the Angels and ethereal Powers,, &c] Not a word is faid here of the Son of Goð,,